1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic system for registering product transactions. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electronic registration system which facilitates compliance with return policies and is useful in reducing improper or fraudulent product returns under warranty.
2. Related Art
Manufacturers and retailers of consumer products often have a standard return policy. For example, a retailer return policy might allow a consumer to return a purchased product for any reason within a certain number of days (e.g., 10 days) after purchase. Additionally, a manufacturer""s warranty may permit return of defective products within a particular time period (e.g., 90 days) after purchase, and provide for repairs of defective products within a different time period (e.g., 180 days). Repairs of products after that date would be the responsibility of the consumer. Such return policies are intended to ensure consumer satisfaction while protecting the manufacturer and/or the retailer from improper returns. As a result, a delicate balance must be maintained between protection of the retailer or manufacturer and consumer satisfaction.
Unfortunately, it is often difficult to monitor product returns to ensure proper compliance with a return policy. For example, a consumer who received a product as a gift usually will not have a sales receipt. In such a situation, an uninformed decision must often be made to accept the return or not. If the return is not accepted, the consumer might unfairly be denied a proper return, and the retailer and the manufacturer risk suffering a loss of goodwill. On the other hand, if the return is accepted, the retailer and/or the manufacturer will incur expenses or losses which might be unwarranted. Some retailers seek to minimize the effect of possible improper returns by limiting a consumer to store credit (rather than a refund) or exchanges on items returned without a receipt. This alternative, however, may be unacceptable to a consumer and does not completely eliminate the retailers"" exposure to improper returns.
Difficulties associated with returns made without a receipt stem primarily from the inability of the retailer to obtain purchase information (such as sales date, place of purchase, etc.) concerning the individual item for which a return is sought. Without such information, it is usually impossible for the retailer to determine whether the return is in compliance with the return policy.
In addition to the foregoing, fraudulent returns can cost product retailers and manufacturers significant sums of money. As an example, upon release of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super NES), Nintendo experienced a high volume of returns of basic NES hardware. When the returned products were evaluated, it was discovered that a high percentage of the products were not defective and, in fact, were several years old. Thus, customers were abusing the retailer""s return policy to exchange old products and upgrade to the new system. Such abuses increase costs to the retailers and manufacturers. These costs are often passed on to purchasers without any attendant benefit to legitimate consumers.
Prompt and efficient handling of returns and proper enforcement of return policies helps to keep down costs while maintaining consumer confidence and satisfaction. However, efforts to speed handling or improve enforcement lose their value if the expense of those efforts outweighs the accompanying benefit. Accordingly, such efforts must be efficient to benefit the manufacturers, retailer and the consumer.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system which facilitates authorized product returns yet reduces the incidence of unauthorized returns. Additionally, there is a need for a registration system which minimizes costs associated with returns, improves retailer efficiency in handling product returns, increases overall customer satisfaction, and provides retailers with immediate access to purchase data information. It is a primary object of the present invention to satisfy these needs. A further object of the present invention is to enable retailers to more effectively enforce retailer and/or manufacturer return policies, even in situations in which the product was received as a gift or when the customer no longer has the sales receipt.
The present invention achieves these and other objects by providing an electronic registration system which enables individual product identification information to be gathered at the point of a transaction for inclusion in one or more transaction databases. In an example embodiment of the present invention, individual product identification information (such as a serial number) is stored in a local transaction database along with additional information including at least the date of the transaction. A transaction receipt such as a customer sales receipt is created and includes the individual product identification information and the date of the transaction. Additionally, the individual product identification information and the transaction date may be communicated to a separate location for inclusion in a general transaction database. The local transaction database may include, for example, sales made by a particular store or sales made by several affiliated stores and is not necessarily co-located with the point of sale.
Where a serial number is used to identify the individual product, a check digit may be used in conjunction with the serial number. In this way, the validity of the serial number may be verified and, if it is invalid, a system operator may be prompted to re-enter the serial number. The serial number may be scanned, entered with a keypad, or input with any other suitable technique.
Prior to obtaining individual product identification information, the electronic registration system may identify the type of product by evaluating, for example, the product SKU number derived from a universal product code (UPC). In this example, the individual product identification information is obtained only if the product is of a type for which electronic registration is desired.
The point of transaction information including the individual product identification information and the transaction date may be communicated for use in a general database in a number of different ways. For instance, an electronic link to the location of the general database may be established or information may be recorded and physically transferred to that location. The communications may occur periodically, on an item-by-item basis, or otherwise.
When a customer returns a product with a receipt, a retailer may look at the serial number on the receipt and compare it to the returned product. If the serial numbers match and if all other return conditions are met, the return may be accepted. When a customer returns a product with no receipt, or a receipt that does not have a correct serial number, the retailer may search the local database for sale information concerning the specific item being returned. If no sale information is located (for instance if another retailer sold the product), the general database may be accessed and searched for sales information, and the return handled accordingly.